Lansdale business man, Rotarian travels to Uganda with Drexel doctors

Ron Smith, founder of S-Bond Technologies in Lansdale and member of the Blue Bell Rotary Club, recently took a three week trip to Uganda as a part of a Rotary vocational training team for maternal and child health. Submitted photo.

Smith, founder of Lansdale’s S-Bond Technologies, met Tusu Tusubira in San Diego at a conference in 2005 training Rotary leaders from around the world.

“He had this great smile and was extremely welcoming,” Smith said.

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While visiting the San Diego Zoo and observing an African exhibit, Smith asked Tusu what it was like viewing an African exhibit that was meant to represent his own country and continent.

From there a friendship blossomed.

Smith, a member of the Blue Bell Rotary Club, then commenced a relationship between his home Rotary and Tusu’s club in Uganda - Kampala North.

Partnering with Tusu’s club allowed the Blue Bell club to assist in upgrading a Ugandan health center outside the city of Kampala, donating needed equipment and a water sanitation system.

Then, when Smith’s son wanted to explore a possible pediatric rotation in Uganda, Smith reached out to Tusu who connected the family to a professor at Makerere University’s College of Health Sciences.

After Smith’s son connected his father to his professor and Drexel University College of Medicine researcher Dr. Owen Montgomery, a project began to develop to fill a need in the Kampala-area health care system.

“By being a Rotarian I don’t have to fight to change the world by myself,” Smith said. “It allows me to quickly tap into a worldwide network that allows me to help make real change.”

After Smith went to Uganda last year to scout out the needs established by those at Makerere University, he wrote a proposal for a Global Grant from Rotary International.

Along with the $81,000 global grant, Smith found support from Rotary District D-7450 and 7500, D-9211 in Uganda, and the Rotary Clubs of North Penn, Churchville-Huntington Valley and Emmaus for the three week vocational training team trip (VTT).

The VTT, who traveled to Uganda from January 24 through February 14, included Drexel University College of Medicine researchers Dr. Owen Montgomery, Dr. Gregg Alleyne, Laniece Coleman, Betsy Batejan, Dr. Yanick Vibert, and Drexel College of Nursing and Health Professions’ Donna Sabella.

The Maternal and Child Health Care Education Project was originally designed to establish a network between community health centers and Makerere University, and to foster a professional linkage between Makerere University and Drexel University.

Then those associated with the project established a need for technological improvements in health education for Makerere University, so Drexel University College of Computing & Informatics (CCI) assistant professors Deborah Turner and Michelle Rogers were added to the team.

Smith said his most memorable moment included helping a convulsing 6-month-old boy with a fever get the care he needed.

The public health center the boy was brought to did not have the equipment to perform a blood test to determine if his convulsions were the result of an infection or a bigger problem.

Smith enlisted the hotel van driver as a mock ambulance driver to take the child to a private hospital where the test could be performed and the child was treated with antibiotics when doctors determined he had a severe infection.

The mother didn’t have money to pay for the care, so Smith chipped in that way, as well.

“I was amazed at how fast the team of Drexel doctors acclimated themselves to the new environment,” Smith said, citing their assistance in an emergency C-section.

The team also brought along portable C-scan equipment and upon its use informed a mother three weeks away from giving birth that she was having twins.

In April a team from Makerere University will visit Drexel University and health centers in our area as part of the development of a sustainable Maternal and Child Healthcare Education Network to provide courses via distance education, e-leaning curriculum in obstetrics, gynecology, and pediatrics.

Smith hopes also to coordinate a forum at Montgomery County Community College for the Ugandan doctors to speak about medical care in their country.